BASEBALL: Magnolia falls to College Station in Game 3 of area playoffs

Cameron Brock

Published 2:37 pm, Saturday, May 14, 2016

MONTGOMERY — Magnolia saw its season come to a close Saturday after falling 5-0 to College Station in a decisive game three in the area round of the UIL Region III-5A state playoffs at Montgomery High School.

Magnolia coach Dale Westmoreland pointed to the team’s lack of offense for the reason their season came to a close.

“When you get one earned run in a three-game series, you’re probably not going to win,” Westmoreland said. “We just didn’t hit the ball very well. We haven’t hit it well all year. We didn’t do it today.”

The one earned run came Friday night when Jordan Groshans scored after back-to-back double by himself and Blake Winebrenner. Those were the only two hits Friday night. Magnolia produced three Saturday. The Bulldogs had fewer hits in the final two games of the series than they did during their 3-2 victory Thursday night when they recorded seven hits.

College Station coach Scott Holder said his pitching staff is the reason they won the series.

“All weekend long, our guys have done a phenomenal job on the mound,” Holder said. “Matt (Bennet) started it Thursday night, and we just didn’t make the plays for him in the end. Travis (Hester) carried that on last night, and Bryson (Lucas) today was phenomenal.”

Lucas, a freshman left-hander, tossed six shutout innings. Picking up the win, he surrendered three hits and four walks. Trevor Blackshear tossed a scoreless seventh inning to pick up the hold.

Austin Faith finished 3.1 innings before Dalton Ridley took over the rest of the game on the Magnolia side. Faith recorded two strikeouts, while surrendering two earned runs on one hit, three walks and a hit batter. Ridley surrendered three earned runs on three walks and four hits. Faith received the loss, but Westmoreland said that is not indicative of his performance.

“I thought they did a good job,” Westmoreland said. “I thought Faith did well. Ridley came in, and you know, the ball up the middle just split the uprights. That’s the way it goes.”

College Station scored two runs in the fourth inning after a lead-off walk and a single to start the inning. The Cougars added two more runs in the sixth inning when William Roubion hit a single up the middle to bring Jack Madigan and Kyle Gonzales across the plate. The final run was scored in the seventh on a groundout. Holder said a major difference was winning game two and providing themselves with momentum.

“We haven’t lost a Game 2 in the four years I’ve been here,” Holder said. “We kind of knew they didn’t want to be in a situation where they played today. We did, so that’s very big, especially when you have a team this year with a lack of playoff experience.”

College Station now advances to the regional quarterfinals for the third consecutive season. The Cougars face District 18-5A rival Bryan Rudder.

Magnolia ends its season with a 22-10 record and a co-district championship.